Our real tragedy in Sudan is the lack of leadership capable of managing our diversity. Had we possessed such leadership, we would have taken off and achieved unparalleled success. Our real tragedy in Sudan is that no one is happy with his or her career or profession: a plumber wants to be a mechanic, an electrician wants to be a builder, a physician wants to be a politician, an engineer wants to be a veterinary doctor, a carpenter wants to be a butcher, a soldier wants to be a pharmacist, a blacksmith wants to be a painter, and Ahmed wants to be Haj Ahmed. In fact, they are not happy even with their identity; they don’t want to be Sudanese. Sarcastically, all of them, without exception, want to be politicians and rulers. I have told you several times that Sudan is a land of wonders. It is a land of forty-million-plus politicians; it is a land of ‘jacks of all trades’; that is why they master none.
Our real tragedy is that all Sudanese leaders have miserably failed to make us truly Sudanese. Being Sudanese is the springboard to propel us into a New Sudan that accommodates our diversity. Sudan is in desperate need of vision-oriented leadership that has the capacity to transform our diverse communities into one nation—a visionary leader who can ‘Sudanize’ us. We are Sudanese by birth, but we have not yet been mentally and psychologically Sudanized.
Still, the terms “strange faces,” “Falangayat,” “Arab and Zourga,” “Alflool,” “Awolad Alfaddadayat,” “Abeed Jallaba,” “Moaraseen bita Jallaba,” “Abeed Almanazil” and suchlike terms are haunting us. Such terms and the stereotypical mentality behind them can never build a nation. Building a nation is a tedious task that calls for unity, togetherness, oneness, brotherhood, acceptance, and tolerance. Trust-building programs and interventions are imperatives and prerequisites for sustainable and durable peace. Any peace that comes before trust-building programs is fragile; it is a peace that cannot endure. It is a peace that will quickly collapse.
The tragedy of Sudan is that it is a country within a country, a state within a state, a system within a system, and a government within a government; The first one is ruling the Sudanese people through the second one. The first one is using the second one as a Trojan horse to ideologically domesticate and indoctrinate its people—an iron fist in a velvet glove that has moved and controlled the entire Sudanese political scene for over thirty years. Regrettably, the Sudanese people were led by a deceptive ideological leadership until discovering the truth and removing them on April 11, 2019, following protests that began on December 19, 2018. When religion is exploited by political leadership for worldly interests, people will discover that they have fallen prey to illusory and false promises. Unfortunately, when people discover the falsehood and illusion of these deceptive religious leaders, it becomes too late to restore what has been messed up—much water has passed under the bridge. Uprooting them is a laborious and tedious task because their roots have gone deep into the hearts and emotions of religious people
Sudanese nations are in desperate need of trust-building programs. Trust has been so severely eroded that it is unlikely to be restored. It is almost too late to talk about state-building because, unfortunately, erosion has reached its core. Hate speech has been deeply instilled across the entire country and has negatively affected the social cohesion and fabric that unite Sudanese communities. What is really laughable is that the leadership is standing aloof without taking serious actions against those who spread hate speech among the Sudanese people. One really wonders, from a leadership perspective, whether hate speech serves the interest of the de facto leadership, thereby justifying their reluctance to prevent this phenomenon. Trust-building comes first; state-building comes second.
I conclude by saying that there is still hope that Sudan will recover and stand on its own two feet again. I am still optimistic that our nation, with its diverse cultural heritages and traditions, is capable of making this Sudan a better place for all of us.
I am still hopeful that a ‘New Sudan’ will emerge to replace the ‘Old Sudan,’ provided that we build trust, provided that we liberate ourselves from stereotypical thinking, provided that each one of us goes back to his or her profession and career, and provided that Ahmed remains Ahmed and Haj Ahmed remains Haj Ahmed.
No for War, Yes to Berlin Conference.
Mahjoub S. G.
Kampala, Uganda
